22 JUNE 1944, Page 2

The Left n Canada

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation victory in the Saskatchewan provincial elections last week savours of the sensa- tional. This left-wing party, which has never before commanded a majority in any province, has in Saskatchewan won 43 seats out of a total of,52, and may be further credited with one or two still undeclared results. In the last Assembly the Liberals held 37 seats and the C.C.F. ix. Saskatchewan, with a population of less than a million, commands only a limited weight in Federal Elec- tions, and it is significant that in the Dominion House of Commons the C.C.F. holds only 8 seats out of 245. There is no reason to apprehend any sweeping leftward move in Federal politics. In any case, the C.C.F. programme is too moderate to alarm anyone except confirmed reactionaries, though it stands for a theoretical . Soc.a.ism. Saskatchewan is a progressive Middle Western .pro-

vince, and one of the factors that influenced the electors was apparently a desire to give new men a chance. But there is a certain under-current of turmoil in Canadian politics generally, with tension between Quebec and the English-speaking provinces always liable to make itself unexpectedly felt, and if the Liberals can be so decisively displaced in Saskatchewan they cannot feel com- pletely at ease about their prospects in other provinces.